The purpose of the Partnership Agreement signed between the Minister of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, Social Economy and Handicrafts and the Rector of the University of Yaoundé I is to specify the terms and conditions under which MINPMEESA will support and supervise incubation activities at the Mbalmayo University Institute of Wood Technology in compliance with Decree No. 2020/0301/PM of 22 January 2020 setting terms and conditions to fulfil missions of small and medium-sized enterprise incubation structures.
The agreement applies among other things to the technical, institutional and, where appropriate, financial support to the Mbalmayo “IUT-Bois”; the promotion of incubation activities at the Mbalmayo “IUT-Bois”; support for the projects of incubates students at the Mbalmayo “IUT-BOIS”; information and awareness-raising for young project holders; information and experience and good practices sharing.
For this collaboration to be more efficient, MINPMEESA undertakes to support the Mbalmayo “IUT-Bois” in the implementation of its activities; to support, within the limits of available resources, the setting up and funding of projects held by incubates; to monitor and technically evaluate, in collaboration with the Mbalmayo “IUT-Bois”, projects implemented and to ensure that the training modules and support systems comply with the relevant standards. On its part, the Mbalmayo “IUT-Bois” undertakes to collaborate with MINPMEESA in the development of its incubation activities; ensure that its incubation structure complies with the relevant regulatory requirements and technical specifications, and that its teaching programmes in the field of entrepreneurship are consistent with the National Entrepreneurship Strategy implemented by the Government; ensure that students are supervised in accordance with the validated training modules and support systems; define relevant strategies for supervising its students who receive technical support from MINPMEESA or its departments; comply with the specifications attached to this Agreement relating to the use of subsidies granted to its incubation structure and submit to MINPMEESA an expenditure account for the management of subsidies allocated to its incubation structure. It is against this backdrop that this Partnership Agreement provides for a grant of 70 million CFA francs to be made available to the Mbalmayo IUT-BOIS for the current year.
It should be reminded that the University of Yaoundé I is a public cultural and scientific institution created by Decree No. 93/036 of 29 January 1993, with legal personality and financial autonomy It is placed under the authority of the Ministry of Higher Education. The institution hosts a number of schools including the Mbalmayo “IUT-Bois” created by Decree No. 93/036 of 29 January 1993 on the creation, administrative and academic organisation of University Institute of Wood Technology. The implementation of this partnership is in line with the collaboration approach between MINPMEESA and State Universities with a view to promoting entrepreneurship and the incubation policy.
In the context of this collaboration, MINPMEESA has granted substantial subsidies to public incubation units housed in State universities, amounting to more than two (02) billion CFA francs between 2016 and 2022. For the year 2023, CFAF 300 million have been allocated to incubators in State universities and Institutions of Advanced Schools. This year, an allocation of CFAF 214 million has been budgeted for incubation units at the Mbalmayo “IUT-Bois”, NAHPI at the University of Buea and the ENSET at the University of Ebolowa.